Door hinge device for absorbing the closing impact of furniture door

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a door hinge device for absorbing the closing impact of a furniture door, which is adapted to minimize a work load and the number of work processes thereof according to assembly and disassembly thereof through the modification of a retaining structure thereof. The door hinge device includes a furniture hinge  10 , a damper adapter  20  and a covering member  30 . According to the present invention, since the assembly and disassembly of the door hinge device can be performed in a one-touch manner through the interaction between the damper adapter and the covering member, a convenience of the operation according to the assembly and disassembly of the door hinge device is improved, a work load is reduced, and a safety accident such as injury of hands and the like is prevented.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2007-0138226, filed in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office on Dec. 27, 2007 and registered in KIPO on Mar. 12, 2008(Registration No. 10-0814739), the entire disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an improved door buffering device whichis installed at a path where a door for furniture is opened/closed toabsorb a noise generated upon the closing impact of the furniture door,and more particularly, to a door hinge device for absorbing the closingimpact of a furniture door, which is adapted to minimize a work load andthe number of work processes thereof according to assembly anddisassembly thereof through the modification of a retaining structurethereof.

2. Background of the Related Art

In general, a door buffering device, i.e., a door hinge device forabsorbing the closing impact of a furniture door is mounted at on theinner wall or the front side of pieces of furniture such as sinks,drawers or the like so as to absorb the impact noise or contactresistance generated in the course of closing the door. Such a doorhinge device is configured such that a damper adapter having a built-influid damper is mounted on a top surface or a side surface of a hingefor furniture.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a furniture hinge 10 of the door hingedevice is hingeably mounted to a coupling portion between a side wall Wof a piece of furniture and a furniture door D and serves as rotatingmeans of the furniture door D. A damper adapter 20 having a built-influid damper 21 is mounted on a top surface of the furniture hinge 10.

Also, as shown in FIG. 2, a door hinge device for absorbing the closingimpact of a furniture door (Korean Registration No. 731335) which is aprior application invention filed by the present applicant includes: afurniture hinge 10 adapted to hingeably interconnect a side wall W of apiece of furniture and a furniture door D and having at least onetension adjustment bolt 11 and a fixing bolt 15 mounted thereon; adamper adapter 20 mounted to the furniture hinge 10 by means of fixingmeans thereof, the damper adapter having a fluid damper 21 built thereinfor absorbing the closing impact of the furniture door D and a pluralityof check openings 22 formed thereon to correspond to the tensionadjustment bolt 11 and the fixing bolt 15 of the furniture hinge; and acovering member 30 fixedly mounted to the damper adapter 20 by means ofretaining hooks 31 and adapted to selectively close or open the checkopenings 22 of the damper adapter 20.

As shown in FIG. 3, the fixing means of the damping adapter 20 includesa hook 27 formed integrally on the underside of the damping adapter 20so as to be fittingly coupled to a retaining aperture 14 of thefurniture hinge 10, and an elastic piece 28 fixedly mounted to theunderside of the damper adapter 20 by means of fastening means such as abolt, etc., so as to be retained by a flange portion 17 of a rear end ofthe furniture hinge 10.

Thus, in case where it is desired to fixedly mount the damper adapter 20to the furniture hinge 10, when the elastic piece 28 is hooked on theflange portion 17 of the furniture hinge 10 and the hook 27 ispressingly pushed into the retaining aperture 14 while abutting againstthe retaining aperture 14 of the furniture hinge 10, the hook 27 of thedamper adapter 20 is inserted into the retaining aperture 14 of thefurniture hinge 10 and simultaneously the elastic piece 28 is retainedby the flange portion 17 to cause the damper adapter 20 to be fixedlymounted to the furniture hinge 10.

On the other hand, in case where it is desired to separate the damperadapter 20 from the furniture hinge 10, the hook 27 fit into theretaining aperture 14 is lifted upwardly while the damper adapter 20 isslightly pulled forwardly with a user's hand so as to cause the hook 27to be withdrawn from the furniture hinge 10 and the elastic piece 28 tobe removed from the flange portion 17.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 3, the furniture hinge 10 and the damperadapter 20 are constructed to be fixed by means of the hook 27 and theelastic piece 28. Thus, when it is desired to mount the damper adapter20 to the furniture hinge 10, the hook 27 should be pressingly pushedinto the retaining aperture 14 while forwardly pulling the damperadapter 20 in a state where the elastic piece 28 is hooked on the flangeportion of the furniture hinge 10, leading to an increase in a workload.

That is, since the damper adapter 20 must be pressed with a strong forceof the extent of exceeding the elastic force of the elastic piece 28 andthe hook 27 in a state where both side portions of the damper adapter 20are gripped by the user's hand, it is difficult to mount the damperadapter 20 to the furniture hinge 10. Also, in case where the user'shand is slipped from the damper adapter 20 during the exertion of astrong force to the damper adapter 20 by a user, there is a risk thatthe user's hand will be injured.

In addition, in case where it is desired to separate the damper adapter20 mounted on the furniture hinge 10, the hooking state of the hook 27must be released to separate the elastic piece 28 in a state where thedamper adapter 20 are pressed forwardly while being gripped by theuser's hand, so that there is an increase in a work load according theseparation of the damper adapter 20 and inconvenience is caused.

Therefore, the conventional door hinge device for absorbing the closingimpact of the furniture door entails a problem in that it is difficultto horizontally and vertically apply a proper force to the damperadapter 20 in the course of the installation and separation of thedamper adapter 20, making it difficult for general persons but notexperts to install and separate the damper adapter 20.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solvethe aforementioned problems associated with the prior art, and it is anobject of the present invention to provide a door hinge device forabsorbing the closing impact of a furniture door, which is adapted tominimize a work load and the number of work processes thereof accordingto assembly and disassembly thereof through the modification of aretaining structure thereof.

To accomplish the above object, according to the present invention,there is provided a door hinge device for absorbing the closing impactof a furniture door, the door hinge device including: a furniture hingeadapted to hingeably interconnect a side wall of a piece of furnitureand a furniture door and having a retaining aperture formed thereon; adamper adapter fixedly mounted to the furniture hinge and having a fluiddamper built therein for absorbing the closing impact of the furnituredoor, the damper adapter having a fixing hook and a pair of clearancehooks protrudingly formed downwardly from the underside thereof so as tobe fittingly coupled to the retaining aperture, wherein the fixing hookand the clearance hooks are disposed abreast and a clearance space isdefined between the fixing hook and each clearance hook; and a coveringmember mounted on the damper adapter and having one or more couplingprotrusions formed on the underside thereof so as to be fit into theclearance space via a through-hole of the damper adapter, whereby theclearance hooks of the damper adapter are oriented uprightly by means ofthe coupling protrusions of the covering member so as to be fixedlyretained by the retaining aperture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be apparent from the following detailed description ofthe preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical view illustrating a state in which aconventional door hinge device is installed at a piece of furnitureaccording to the prior art;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a door hinge device accordingto the prior art;

FIG. 3 is an assembled cross-sectional view of a door hinge deviceaccording to the prior art;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a door hinge device accordingto a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a series of assembly processesof the door hinge device of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a door hinge device accordingto a second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a series of assembly processesof the door hinge device of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference will now be made in detail to a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention with reference to the attached drawings.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a door hinge device accordingto a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is across-sectional view showing a series of assembly processes of the doorhinge device of FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a doorhinge device according to a second embodiment of the present invention,and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a series of assemblyprocesses of the door hinge device of FIG. 6.

A door hinge device for absorbing the closing impact of a furniture dooraccording to the present invention includes: a furniture hinge 10adapted to hingeably interconnect a side wall W of a piece of furnitureand a furniture door D and having a retaining aperture 14 formedthereon; a damper adapter 20 fixedly mounted to the furniture hinge 10and having a fluid damper 21 built therein for absorbing the closingimpact of the furniture door D, the damper adapter having a fixing hook100 and a pair of clearance hooks 200 protrudingly formed downwardlyfrom the underside thereof so as to be fittingly coupled to theretaining aperture 14, wherein the clearance hooks are disposed abreastat both sides of the fixing hook and a clearance space is definedbetween the fixing hook and each clearance hook; and a covering member30 mounted on the damper adapter 20 and having one or more couplingprotrusions 400 formed on the underside thereof so as to be fit into theclearance space via a through-hole 500 of the damper adapter 20. In thiscase, the clearance hooks 200 of the damper adapter 20 are orienteduprightly by means of the coupling protrusions 400 of the coveringmember 30 so as to be fixedly retained by the retaining aperture 14.

In this embodiment, the present invention includes a furniture hinge 10adapted to interconnect the side wall W of a piece of furniture and thefurniture door D so as to be used as rotating means of the furnituredoor D, a damper adapter 20 mounted on the top surface of the furniturehinge 10 so as to be used as buffering means of the furniture door D,and a covering member 30 mounted on the damper adapter 20 so as to beused as fixing means of the damping adapter 20.

Also, the constituent elements corresponding to the prior art in themain constituent elements of this embodiment are denoted by the samereference numerals as those used in the prior art.

In this case, the furniture hinge 10 is adapted to hingeablyinterconnect the side wall W of a piece of furniture and the furnituredoor D so as to be used opening/closing means of the furniture door D.The furniture hinge 10 includes a body portion securely fixed to theside wall W of the piece of furniture by means of bolts, and a rotatingportion securely fixed to the furniture door D by means of bolts in sucha fashion as to be hingeably coupled to the body portion.

The body portion of the furniture hinge 10 has at least one tensionadjustment bolt 11 and a fixing bolt 15 mounted on a top surface thereofso as to adjust a tension or a fixing force of the rotating portion.Also, the body portion has at least one retaining aperture 14 formedbetween the tension adjustment bolt 11 and the fixing bolt 15 on the topsurface thereof.

Also, the damper adapter 20 is fixedly mounted to the furniture hinge 10and serves to buffer the closing impact of the furniture door D. Thedamper adapter 20 includes: a body portion having a check opening 22formed at positions thereof corresponding to the tension adjustment bolt11 and the fixing bolt 15 of the furniture hinge 10; and fixing meansformed integrally on the underside of the body portion thereof.

In addition, the fixing means of the damper adapter 20 includes a fixinghook 100 protrudingly formed downwardly from the underside of the damperadapter 20 so as to be fittingly coupled to the retaining aperture 14, apair of clearance hooks 200 protrudingly formed downwardly from theunderside thereof in such a fashion as to be disposed abreast at bothsides of the fixing hook 100 so as to be fittingly coupled to theretaining aperture 14 of the furniture hinge 10, and a clearance space300 having a certain distance defined between the fixing hook 100 andthe clearance hooks 200.

Moreover, the damper adapter 20 has a through-hole 500 formed therein insuch a fashion as to communicate with the clearance space 300 so as toallow coupling protrusions 400 of a covering member 30, which will bedescribed later, to be induced into the clearance space 300.

Also, the clearance hooks 200 may be formed at both sides or one sidealong a width direction of the fixing hook 100 as shown in FIGS. 4 and5, and may be formed at both sides or one side along a lengthwisedirection of the fixing hook 100 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

Further, the clearance hooks 200 are preferably formed thinner than thefixing hook 100 so that they can be bent along the clearance space 300.

In addition, each of the clearance hooks 200 has at least one retainingjaw 210 integrally formed at the bottom portion thereof in such afashion as to extend outwardly from an outer wall of the bottom portionthereof so as to be fixedly retained by a flange portion 14 a formed anedge of the retaining aperture 14 in a state where the retaining jaw isfit into the retaining aperture 14.

Also, the covering member 30 is mounted on the damper adapter 20 andserves to close or open the check opening 22 of the damper adapter 20 toadjust the fastening state of the tension adjustment bolt 11 and thefixing bolt 15 of the furniture hinge 10. The covering member 30includes: a body portion mounted on the top surface of the damperadapter 20; and fixing means integrally formed at the underside of thebody portion so as to be fittingly coupled with the damper adapter 20.

In this case, the fixing means of the covering member 30 includes thecoupling protrusions 400 fit into the clearance space 300 via thethrough-hole 500 of the damper adapter 20.

Preferably, the covering member 30 has a plurality of retaining hooks 31formed on the underside thereof so as to be fittingly fixed to the topsurface of the damper adapter 20.

Also, preferably, the coupling protrusions 400 are formed at positionsof the covering member 30 corresponding to the clearance space 300 ofthe damper adapter 20 to have a contour corresponding to the clearancespace 300. The coupling protrusions 400 may be formed at both sides orone side along a width direction of the covering member 30 as shown inFIGS. 4 and 5, and may be formed at both sides or one side along alengthwise direction of the covering member 30 as shown in FIGS. 6 and7.

In this case, the clearance space 300 of the damper adapter 20 ispreferably defined to have a width corresponding to the thickness ofeach of the coupling protrusions 400.

Besides, the damper adapter 20 and the covering member 30 are preferablyformed of a material excellent in machinability and elasticity such asplastic or rubber.

Now, the assembly and disassembly operation of the door hinge deviceaccording to the present invention will be described hereinafter in moredetail with reference to FIGS. 5 and 7.

First, when it is desired to assemble the door hinge device of thepresent invention, the fixing hook 100 and the clearance hooks 200 ofthe damper adapter 20 are softly pressingly pushed downwardly into theretaining aperture 14 of the furniture hinge 10 while abutting againstthe retaining aperture 14 of the furniture hinge 10.

Then, the clearance hooks 200 abutting against the flange portion on thetop surface of the furniture hinge 10 are fit into the retainingaperture 14 while being bent inwardly along the clearance space 300, andthen are maintained in an upright state by means of intrinsic elasticityof the clearance hooks 200.

Subsequently, when the coupling protrusions 400 of the covering member30 are softly pressingly pushed into the through-hole 500 of the damperadapter 20 while abutting against the through-hole 500, the coveringmember 30 is coupled to the top surface of the damper adapter 20.

That is, when the coupling protrusions 400 of the covering member 30 arefit into the clearance space 300 of the damper adapter 20 via thethrough-hole 500 of the damper adapter 20, a moving space of theclearance hooks 200 does not exist to cause the clearance hooks 200 tobe maintained in an upright state.

Furthermore, the covering member 30 mounted on the damper adapter 20 isprimarily securely fixed to the damper adapter 20 by means of theretaining hooks 31 as well as the retaining jaws 210 of the clearancehooks 200 are fixedly retained by the flange portion 14 a of theretaining aperture 14 so as to prevent the escape of the door hingedevice.

In the meantime, in case where it is desired to disassemble the doorhinge device, when the covering member 30 is lifted slightly, thecoupling protrusions 400 fit into the clearance space 300 of the damperadapter 20 is easily removed from the damper adapter 20.

In this case, since the clearance hooks 200 of the damper adapter 20 arebent at a given angle along the clearance space 300, the damper adapter20 can be easily and readily separated from the furniture hinge 10.

Thus, the tension adjustment bolt 11 and the fixing bolt 15 of thefurniture hinge 10 are checked through the check openings 22 of thedamper adapter 20, and then the covering member 30 and the damperadapter 20 can be re-assembled to each other for the use of the doorhinge device.

As described above, a door hinge device for absorbing the closing impactof a furniture door according to the present invention has the followingadvantageous effects.

First, since the assembly and disassembly of the door hinge device canbe performed in a one-touch manner through the interaction between thedamper adapter and the covering member, a convenience of the operationaccording to the assembly and disassembly of the door hinge device isimproved as well as a work load is reduced.

Second, since the assembly and disassembly of the door hinge device iscarried out in only a one-depression and pulling manner, it can beeasily conducted even by a non-expert, thereby preventing a safetyaccident such as injury of hands and the like.

While the present invention has been described with reference to theparticular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by theembodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciatedthat those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodimentswithout departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

1. A door hinge device for absorbing the closing impact of a furnituredoor, the door hinge device comprising: a furniture hinge (10) adaptedto hingeably interconnect a side wall (W) of a piece of furniture and afurniture door (D) and having a retaining aperture (14) formed thereon;a damper adapter (20) mounted to the furniture hinge (10) and having afluid damper (21) built therein for absorbing the closing impact of thefurniture door (D), the damper adapter (20) having a fixing hook (100)next to and a pair of clearance hooks (200) protrudingly formeddownwardly from the underside thereof so as to be fittingly coupled tothe retaining aperture (14), wherein the fixing hook (100) is disposednext to the clearance hooks (200) and a plurality of clearance spaces(300) are defined between the fixing hook (100) and each of theclearance hooks (200); and a covering member (30) mounted on the damperadapter (20) and having a plurality of coupling protrusions (400) formedon the underside thereof so as to be fit into the clearance spaces (300)via a through-hole (500) of the damper adapter (20), wherein theclearance hooks (200) of the damper adapter (20) are oriented toward thecoupling protrusions (400) of the covering member (30) so as to be fixedby the retaining aperture (14).
 2. The door hinge device according toclaim 1, wherein the clearance hooks (200) are formed at the same sideor the opposite sides of the fixing hook (100) along a width directionof the damper adapter (20).
 3. The door hinge device according to claim1, wherein the clearance hooks (200) are formed at the same side or theopposite sides of the fixing hook (100) along a lengthwise direction ofthe damper adapter (20).
 4. The door hinge device according to claim 1,wherein each clearance space (300) is formed to have a widthcorresponding to the thickness of each of the coupling protrusions(400).
 5. The door hinge device according to claim 1, wherein each ofthe clearance hooks (200) has a retaining jaw (210) integrally formed atthe bottom portion thereof in such a fashion as to extend outwardly froman outer wall of the bottom portion thereof so as to be fixedly retainedby a flange portion (14 a) of the retaining aperture (14).